Monday, August 30, 2010

Publishing update:

We are at the end of August once again. In other words, this isn’t my first summer. I had hoped to have my epic fantasy, ‘The Treasures of Carmelidrium,’ available by now, but it is on hold. I heard from my editor and it seems this will take a little longer. I’m not finished with my edits so she doesn’t have the whole thing. I am hoping to give it to her within the next two weeks.

That being said, you may see the first of my short-story series, ‘Phoenix,’ before you see ‘Treasures.’ I am disappointed. I wanted my story out there sooner than later, but I hope it will be available in time for Christmas, Hanukkah, Boxer Day, and other holidays around the same time. Sorry if I missed your favorite, holidays are not my strong point.

Delays are a part of a writer’s life. From the time we conceive our story, there are multiple delays. The first one is: What happens next. Then there is critique group in which you find out, oh, that doesn’t make sense. This is followed by many rewrites, trying to find the right word, phrase, dialogue, motivation to fit your plot. Last is the edits. After this it is sending out the query letter to agents and editors and hoping they will request partials, or the entire manuscript. Followed by waiting, waiting, waiting. If you e-publish your book yourself, you can eliminate the query and submission process unless the reason you’re e-publishing is because you did all that with no success.

Today’s market is difficult for the new, unpublished writer to break into regardless of how many years s/he has been studying the craft and regardless of the genre they write in. Publishing houses don’t want to take a risk. They want a sure thing. Many writers do short, short stories for magazines. In recent years there is the Internet e-Magazine available. I haven’t done that because it’s hard for me to write really short pieces. But I have decided to give it a whirl. You never know maybe some character will show up at my door and demand to be heard.

For all you readers out there, would you like me to post some little story here?

For all you writers who visit me, are you frustrated by the delays too?

10 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

There's always next year.
And I signed the contract for my upcoming book over a year ago. So yeah, a bit of a delay there!

Unknown said...

Delay has always been a part of publishing. When I wrote/sold regularly, there were always magazines that waited over a year to publish articles/stories they accepted. Quite annoying when you were "paid on publication".

Book publishers are just following the tradition when they drag out publication dates. Writers can only keep a stiff upper lip and wait.

Hope your book gets out there sooner than later.

Jules said...

I wish I had words of wisdom or some delay story to tell but I'm only a blogger. I do wish you the best on your book though. :)
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

N. R. Williams said...

Thank you Alex, Kay and Jules. I will keep plugging away.
Nancy

Unknown said...

I'm all for a stories!!!

As a writers I haven't experienced delays because I'm still a very beginner writer. I've written two novels and I'm currenlty in revisions with both. I'm sure it wouldn't be easy to handle!!

N. R. Williams said...

No not at all, but it's a part of the job. Thanks for stopping by.
Nancy

Patricia Stoltey said...

Delays...yes, everything seems to take forever. The traditional process and publishing upheavals will drive more and more writers to self-publish.

Patricia

N. R. Williams said...

Yes, I agree Patricia.
Nancy

Anonymous said...

Delays are a necessary evil we must put up with in this business. Like Tom Petty sang,"The waiting is the hardest part."

Stephen Tremp

N. R. Williams said...

So true Stephen.
Nancy